*** Welcome to piglix ***

Eric Harrison (Australian soldier)

Eric Harrison
Eric Fairweather Harrison.jpg
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Bendigo
In office
19 December 1931 – 21 September 1937
Preceded by Richard Keane
Succeeded by George Rankin
Personal details
Born (1880-04-16)16 April 1880
Stanmore, New South Wales
Died 15 April 1948(1948-04-15) (aged 67)
Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality Australian
Political party United Australia Party
Spouse(s) Roma Wingfiled Zilla Clark
Children Brian Harrison
Alma mater Cambridge University
Occupation Soldier

Eric Fairweather Harrison (16 April 1880 – 15 April 1948) was an Australian soldier and politician.

Harrison was born the son of English-born James Start Harrison in the Sydney suburb of Stanmore, New South Wales and educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School and Bedford School in England. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a B.A. in 1901 and a M.A. in 1902. He was part of a Trinity crew which won the Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.

He returned to Australia in 1903 and joined the militia garrison artillery in New South Wales. In April 1904, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Australian Artillery. In 1910, he was the first Australian to attend the Staff College at Quetta, now in Pakistan.

Harrison was promoted to major in 1914 and at the commencement of World War I was the duty staff officer at Army Headquarters and gave the instruction to fire across the bows of the SS Pfalz, the first shots fired by the British Empire during the war. He was subsequently appointed director of military training at army headquarters and from October 1915, director of military art at the Royal Military College, Duntroon (R.M.C.). In October 1917 he joined the First Australian Imperial Force as a major and served in France at Hazebrouck, Strazeele, Flêtre and on the Somme. In September 1918 he took part in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line. He was made brevet lieutenant-colonel in January 1919 and mentioned in dispatches in March.


...
Wikipedia

...